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The Auction

Perth, 18th May 2010

Tomorrow will see an amazing event take place in Perth. About 1000 cars are to be auctioned in two hours time; 4 lanes will see 1 car auctioned per lane every minute! This massive auction has been organized by the insurance companies after the unprecedented hailstorm that swept Perth recently in which thousands of cars were damaged beyond repair (written off) by hail stones the size of golf balls. All cars have to go. Bids start at $200…interested? You can bid online as the auction will be streamlined on the internet! It s a shame I don’t need a car at the moment 🙂

I am of course going to link this to lighting, specificallythe salvaging of light fixtures when doing a renovation. Generally our lighting design projects are new developments, certainly in this part of the world, but occasionally we get involved in renovations or upgrades. In these cases the old interiors are ripped and cleaned out to make way for the new. There are a few scenarios. One, the contractor demolishing the building takes care of removing all the old furniture and fittings at no cost to the client. In the second scenario the client auctions off the old contents to salvage some revenue. In a third option, but rarely applied, the fixtures are re-used in the new design or in another project.

When we did the renovation of the Raffles Hotel in Singapore many years ago, some of the old historical lighting fixtures were salvaged, cleaned up and brought back into their original state. In some areas we even had additional ones remade to tally the quantities needed. We also studied some historic pictures with the interior designer and had some of the authentic period lights reproduced.

In an outdoor sports venue recently completed in Australia that required new masts and floodlights, we recommended and advised the client on potential re-use of the poles and lights to upgrade other venues in need of new lighting. Our consideration for re-use of existing equipment (of course after confirming its structural safety and quality assurance) was much appreciated by the client. I think we should at least always consider this option!